Adamant Entertainment presents this optional addition to the creation process for your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game characters. Character motivations are strong personality traits or passions which represent beliefs or ideals that shape a character’s actions and behavior. Motivations find their way into almost every aspect of a character’s life and can occasionally be difficult to control.
In some ways, character motivations are similar to character traits. In fact, traits and motivations can be used in tandem to create well-realized character backgrounds. One important distinction between traits and character motivations, however, is that character motivations tend to be a much more integral part of the character than traits normally are, and subsequently convey considerably larger benefits. Character motivations can easily dominate most facets of a character’s personality and typically require a heavier role-playing commitment from the player.
This PDF features 15 pairs of opposed motivations, and full rules for their use in your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game campaigns.
Product Availability
Fulfilled immediately.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
store@paizo.com.
This pdf is 12 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving 10 pages of new content, so let#s take a look at it.
We have all seen it in different media: Be it comics, cinema, books or even real life: Motivations that drive us to the point of being driven, principles that can and will not be broken by the respective people and, while constraining, also provide for a tremendous boost in capabilities at the same time, enabling them to endure and draw strength from their particular idiosyncrasies. This is made especially evident in moments where conflicting values between hero and villain or pro-and antagonist collide.
Why is it, then, that these iconic moments happen not too often in RPGs? First of all, there is a disconnection between players and PCs - the first reaction in many an otherwise great round will be to do what benefits the group in contrast to what the character might usually do. While some rpg-groups (Thanks for all the great years, fellows!) manage to transcend the benefits of the group for an "authentic" character reaction, it always leaves a shallow taste, even when XP-rewards are handed out later. There just is no immediate benefit for "driven" characters that adhere to a principle or flaw.
30 character motivations sets out to change that. Being portrayed as 15 pairs of opposable concepts, their mechanics are simple: When conflicted/confronted with a situation that goes against the motivation, a special check of d20+Int or Wis-mod is rolled against a DC set by the DM (guidelines are provided, basic DC is 15) - when successful, the PC can reign in his/her/its urges and act contrary to them. Otherwise the motivation has to be acted out, though not necessarily in self-destructive ways. From loyalty to lustfulness, honorable characters and cruelty - the range covered in the short space is quite interesting and offers something for just about anyone. Each motivation also comes with objects, i.e. concrete triggers: If your family has been slaughtered by goblinoids, you might have your lust for vengeance triggered in the face of these creatures.
Mechanically, the bonuses are not to be trifled with - they offer a higher power-gain than a feat (e.g. Brave: Immune to shaken and frightened conditions, +4 against fear and despair effects and reroll a fear/despair-related save once per day), thus a GM wishing to implement the rules should definitely make sure that situations come up that trigger the motivation to the detriment of the character in order to balance the benefits. On the other hand, the system facilitates e.g. playing characters like a smart fighter or a headstrong rogue.
We also get a new feat that gives you a bonus on the check to reign in the motivation.
Conclusion:
Layout is ok and adheres to the two-column standard. Editing is fine, too and the full-color artworks are also ok. The pdf is short, thus I won't detract a star from the rating due to the lack of bookmarks - at 10 pages the file is easily maneuverable. I should note that the sub-header of the book is "New Traits for Characters", which is kind of a misnomer - this system has nothing in common with the standard traits in PFRPG. That being said, to tackle the system on its own ground, it works, is concisely written and professionally presented. However, as always with systems like that, DM-and player-discretion is advised when using the system to prevent suicidal stunts and balance issues/too frequent character deaths. My only true points of criticism for the system are that a) the motivations and their benefits are not that balanced and that some grant significantly stronger bonuses than others. GM-discretion is advised; and b) we don't get more content - while 5 bucks is not expensive, it's at the upper range of the impulse-buy range. I hope that we'll see 30 more motivations in a future supplement - the concept does lend itself to expansion. My final verdict will thus be a straight 4 stars.
This product is 12 pages long. It starts with a cover. (1 pages)
Introduction (2 pages)
This explains what they are, how to use them and then gives two examples. It is suggested each character only be allowed a single motivation.
Motivations (8 pages)
Each motivation has a positive and negative version of them. Both version give the character bonuses to stuff, just different things. The ones included are as follows. There is also one new feat. Controlled, grants you a bonus to go against your motivation.
Honorable / Unscrupulous
Brave / Cowardly
Concerned / Apathetic
Accepting / Contemptuous
Chaste / Lustful
Forgiving / Vengeful
Compassionate / Cruel
Dutiful / Rebellious
Just / Partisan
Generous / Avaricious
Ambivalent / Envious
Amorous / Despising
Loyal / Treacherous
Modest / Proud
Honest / Deceitful
It ends with a OGL. (1 pages)
Closing thoughts. The layout and editing are ok, the artwork is color and fair. The pages have a gray jagged torn parchment look. Which looks nice but makes it less print friendly. As for the motivations for the most part they match pretty well to what you would expect. Some I disagreed with but all and all not bad. Let me say I like the idea of this product. Now with that said I did have a few issues. One the negatives are helpful too. I kinda would have rather them have more negative aspects to them. Also they are not really balanced I thought some of them was much stronger than some of the others. The weak ones I would say is worth a feat likely. The strongest though I would say is worth three feats. Such as one of them gives you a +2 luck bonus to all saves.
So I liked the idea but felt it needs some work and I would have liked to have seen it done slightly differently. Maybe for each positive motivation you had to take a negative one to counter balance it. I think that would have been better personally. All and all it's not but a bit pricey. So if the idea interest you it is worth picking up. So what's my rating? I am going to have to give it a 3 in the end. It is a neat idea and the RPing idea's it helps provide and character fleshing out I felt was worth half a 3 star.
Front Cover - 1 page
Introduction to Motivations - 2 pages; General rules for use in play
Motivation descriptions - 8 pages; Descriptions, specific bonuses for each motivation, 1 new feat
OGL - 1 page
The Good: The motivations provide both interesting role-playing hooks for the characters, and specific game mechanic benefits. Suggestions for general kinds of things the motivations might apply to help round out the motivations.
The Bad: Some might not like the Motivation check mechanic, as it has the potential to dictate a character's actions. However, this should not come up too often as they are only really called for if a character wants to resist his/her motivation.
The Ugly: The layout is clean, and fairly printer friendly. Illustrations are fairly minimal, but what there are are in color and quite good. None of them seem to particularly relate to any specific motivations though, being more character illustrations.
Overall I found the motivations and mechanics useful and varied, and plan on introducing them in my Carrion Crown campaign that will be starting soon. The only thing I think I would have liked to have seen was perhaps more motivations, but the ones given cover a fair amount of ground.
I'm really interested to hear how folks like these! We did extensive playtesting and Character Motivations really added a cool new element to game sessions, especially in groups that enjoy the role playing aspect of the game!
Will check this out when I can. Along the other 3pp stuff in my cart. But at this rate it will be the middle of may before I can pick them up. So maybe by the end of may I can have a review up for you.
I've read, but not played it. All things considered, it looked nice, but I'd definitely only offer it as an *option*. Also, there's one that gives +3 skill points per level, which I'm somewhat hesitant to allow.
I read it today, likely have a review up tomorrow or Tuesday.
I will say I like the idea, but reading it made me think of the old Rolemaster/Spacemaster random merit/flaw tables. Made me wish there was about a 100 of these with more merits than flaws and the flaws actually being bad but only in minor ways. That would let Players roll on it.
Yeah i know most are not up for this type of thing random, just reminded me of those old tables and made me kinda miss them. One of the stranger and funner characters i have played was because of random rolls like that. :) What a wacky chick she was.
I've read, but not played it. All things considered, it looked nice, but I'd definitely only offer it as an *option*. Also, there's one that gives +3 skill points per level, which I'm somewhat hesitant to allow.
In playtest, the +3 skill points did not feel game breaking (plus, just think what the character has to give up in order to get all that additional free time to dedicate toward learning extra skills! ha ha:)
In all seriousness, we found it's a great Motivation for a fighter to take for instance, since it makes up for the fighter's low skill points. Even if a class like a rogue or bard takes this Motivation, those 3 extra skill points are great, but they really don't unbalance anything.
If the +3 seems a bit too much for your liking though, I would think you could lower it to +2 skill points in your game without making the Motivation less attractive.
In playtest, the +3 skill points did not feel game breaking (plus, just think what the character has to give up in order to get all that additional free time to dedicate toward learning extra skills! ha ha:)
From experience, not much ;) .
Quote:
In all seriousness, we found it's a great Motivation for a fighter to take for instance, since it makes up for the fighter's low skill points. Even if a class like a rogue or bard takes this Motivation, those 3 extra skill points are great, but they really don't unbalance anything.
If the +3 seems a bit too much for your liking though, I would think you could lower it to +2 skill points in your game without making the Motivation less attractive.
My greatest concern is how this intersects with the human Skilled bonus and rogues, who focus to a great extent on skills. I can easily foresee how this bonus could end up overshadowing both. Or, god help me, someone stacking all three, and then adding their favored class bonus! 13 + Int mod per level, anyone?
Still, I'd have to try it out in practice to say for certain. I'm certainly tempted to play the above combination (Chaste Human Rogue), myself.
This looks like something right up my alley, but I'm a bit skeptic due to Fell Beasts and Tome of Secrets not exactly being up to what I expected of them.
This looks like something right up my alley, but I'm a bit skeptic due to Fell Beasts and Tome of Secrets not exactly being up to what I expected of them.
I can't speak to Fell Beasts and Tome of Secrets, not owning them, but the main issues with this one are as follows:
- All motivations require an Object, and exactly what this "object" refers to is sometimes unclear ("Gives charity to all without prejudice - object: family, friends, lower social classes, race").
- There is a mechanic where characters can be forced to act out their motivation against the player's will. This can be fun if you're into that sort of thing, but I can also see it being terribly unfun in some situations.
- The benefits of certain motivations could encourage people to minmax their characters' personalities (like I said above - "Ooh, my rogue is chaste, 'cause then I get more skill points!").
Apart from these issues, though, I'd recommend it.
- All motivations require an Object, and exactly what this "object" refers to is sometimes unclear ("Gives charity to all without prejudice - object: family, friends, lower social classes, race").
- The benefits of certain motivations could encourage people to minmax their characters' personalities (like I said above - "Ooh, my rogue is chaste, 'cause then I get more skill points!").
These two don't look too captivating.
My players, jaded by years of insanity-rules in both D&D 3.5, PFRPG and CoC are quite used to acting contrary to what might be the reasonable thing to do, so no problem there.
*sigh*
I guess this will have to wait then, as my budget is kind of spent right now. Thanks for the information, Arachne!
- All motivations require an Object, and exactly what this "object" refers to is sometimes unclear ("Gives charity to all without prejudice - object: family, friends, lower social classes, race").
- The benefits of certain motivations could encourage people to minmax their characters' personalities (like I said above - "Ooh, my rogue is chaste, 'cause then I get more skill points!").
These two don't look too captivating.
My players, jaded by years of insanity-rules in both D&D 3.5, PFRPG and CoC are quite used to acting contrary to what might be the reasonable thing to do, so no problem there.
*sigh*
I guess this will have to wait then, as my budget is kind of spent right now. Thanks for the information, Arachne!
Hi
I wanted to clear up a few points ...
As to the Objects, these are used to hone in on how your Motivation manifests. You might have the Despising Character Motivation but that doesn't necessarily mean you just Despise everyone and everything. You should pick one (or more than one, if it fits your character concept) Object which becomes the focus of that Motivation. The objects listed for each Motivation are simply the most likely Objects - players and GMs can certainly work together to come up with others if they like. The idea is that these optional rules give you the tools as well as the flexability to mold those rules to whatever works best in your game!
Regarding min/maxing - that is, unfortunately a concern for many aspects of the game, if a player is prone to that sort of thing. Also, as the intro to the PDF says, the key is that the player MUST always role-play his Motivation. It's up to the GM to be sure the player does not simply take the benefits and then ignore the Motivation. This is also one of the reasons the Motivation Check was introduced.
Speaking of the Motivation Check, it it designed to hammer home these Motivations and the fact that, on occasion, a character simply cannot fight his natural impulses. It is very similar to a skill check. In actual playtesting, they were not too intrusive and in fact lead to some great role-playing opportunities. Really, that is the point of this mechanic. Also, while a failed check DOES make the character act as his Motivation dictates, it is still up to the player to carry such acts out and the GM to determine the results.
Perhaps some examples from the text might help clarify:
Example 1
A player is rolling up a new, 1st level rogue. The character’s background involves growing up in abject poverty on the outskirts of a wealthy merchant district. The player decides to take the Envious Character Motivation (wealth and society). The rogue immediately receives a +2 bonus on all three saving throws.
During a game session, the rogue and his companions have managed to get themselves invited to a posh banquet thrown by a powerful and wealthy baron. The player of the rogue character knows it is vital that the party make a good impression on the baron in order to secure aid for an upcoming adventure. The player role-plays the rogue’s envy of the opulent wealth on display in the baron’s dining chambers, but decides he does not want to risk stealing anything. The GM, however, informs the player that he needs to make a Motivation check to avoid pilfering a few things of value, even though this could lead to problems for the party.
The GM sets the DC at the default of 15. If the rogue player manages to roll a 15 or higher on his Motivation check, he is able to keep his desire to steal in check and quietly eats his meal. If he rolls lower than 15, the rogue simply cannot help himself – he begins shoving fine silverware and goblets into his pouches at every opportunity. The party can only hope the baron or his guards don’t notice!
Example 2
The player of a cavalier with the Despising Character Motivation (evil religions) encounters a group of obviously powerful, devil worshipping clerics at the end of a long dungeon corridor, their backs still to the cavalier and his party. The party quietly decides that it wants to sneak away before any of the evil clerics can turn and spot the party.
The player of the cavalier knows the party is probably no match for the diabolic clerics, so he agrees that avoiding a fight might be the best option. The GM decides to call for a Motivation check with a DC of 20, since these clerics of an evil religion represent everything the cavalier Despises.
If the player rolls a 20 or higher, the cavalier is able to hold his hatred for the clerics in check and reluctantly agrees to go along with the party’s plan to avoid a fight. If the player rolls lower than a 20, the cavalier vehemently refuses to avoid a battle, perhaps even rushing directly at the clerics while boldly bellowing a challenge to battle!
I really hope everyone gives 30 Character Motivations a try - I don't think you will be disappointed! :)
@End - I might be able to get a comp copy to you ... how can we get in touch?
As to the Objects, these are used to hone in on how your Motivation manifests. You might have the Despising Character Motivation but that doesn't necessarily mean you just Despise everyone and everything. You should pick one (or more than one, if it fits your character concept) Object which becomes the focus of that Motivation. The objects listed for each Motivation are simply the most likely Objects - players and GMs can certainly work together to come up with others if they like. The idea is that these optional rules give you the tools as well as the flexability to mold those rules to whatever works best in your game!
Right - but my point was that not all motivations seem to really gel with their objects, and it can be hard to see the connection. Not an insurmountable problem, really.
As for the other two points I made, you are quite right in that they're justified - but they're both mechanics that I can see as having undesirable consequences. Rules that influence personality - World of Darkness's Virtues, Vices, Morality etc., Legend of the Five Rings' Honor, and similar from other systems - have to be very carefully designed, and I'm not much of a fan of the "roll a check and if you fail you do [x]" implementation. I think incentives work better - but in Pathfinder, I can see how such a method would be hard to do.
Don't get me wrong - these aren't *major* issues. The product is, overall, quite strong. But they are issues still.
